The Invisible Line
by Capsaicin
Summary: Broad brush Creese, post One. He knows it. She knows it. But they just can't admit it out loud.
1. Chapter 1

Since that day with Nevikov everything had changed but only Charlie and Dani truly appreciated how and why.

The dust had now settled but every particle had fallen back into a slightly different position. Things were shifted and altered and yet they took great pains to just carry on and pretend they hadn't noticed. It was a delicate balancing act. If one of them had stepped out of line and even alluded to it, the whole thing would have come crashing down around their ears. And that was a scary thought; scary for Charlie and terrifying for Dani, because if it all fell down now neither of them was sure if it could ever be reassembled. It was far less risky just to pretend everything was normal between them. Same as it ever was.

Dani, and then Charlie, had eventually returned to work. Investigations were written up, reports issued, conclusions drawn and the whole thing filed away. Would it be that easy to draw a line under the matter and forget all about it? There was nothing concrete they could pin on Crews, at least officially. Suspicion abounded but hard evidence was scant and an efficient wall of silence had sprang up around him. Tidwell, Seever, Stark and Reese all closed ranks to protect the man they had come to see as a friend.

Stark felt like he was righting a wrong that he had visited upon Charlie a long time ago; it didn't make up for the fact that he had failed to stand up for his partner the first time he was investigated but it was the least he could do this time around. Seever had been undecided, she had her political ambitions to think of, but she felt loyalty towards Charlie and she knew he wasn't a bad guy. She also figured that it wouldn't be the first cover up she would ever get embroiled in, and this one was for a good cause, after all. Seever took care not to lie exactly, she just understated her knowledge of Charlie's mission to rescue his partner. It wasn't something she couldn't talk her way out of at a later date if she needed to. Tidwell was relieved, grateful and cowed all at once by what Crews had done. Sometimes it was useful having a complete kook on his team, even if he was a pain in the ass. Tidwell's girl was back, even if she was acting even more volatile than normal, and that was all that mattered. Of course, there was a healthy dose of the Captain needing to save his own ass at play too; he was the boss man at the end of the day, and this had gone down on his watch.

Initially, the higher-ups had a real hard-on for sending Crews down again, in revenge for having screwed them for $50 million the first time, if nothing else. But as the evidence grew harder to gather and Crews' gold-plated legal team circled, it became apparent that they would have to go a long way to make anything stick, so their appetite waned. Going after a man they had already wrongly imprisoned for a third of his lifetime was not politically palatable. Someone on high ultimately resolved to settle for the positive that Nevikov had been eliminated, even if they didn't know exactly how; that was good enough. If Crews really was as dangerous as they suspected he would have rope enough to hang himself, given time. They made Crews aware that he would be watched very closely for the rest of his career. It was implied that a man of his means didn't need to tolerate that level of scrutiny - the choice was his. But Charlie didn't even consider resigning, his job and his partner were his whole world now. He couldn't entertain the thought of losing either.

So they all dusted themselves down and carried on. Tidwell, Seever and Stark pretended like their versions of events were gospel and Dani and Charlie pretended like they hadn't both discovered a pretty overwhelming truth in the orange grove that day.

Bodner had seen it a mile off. Once he and Charlie were through shooting each other, the two men found that they really quite liked each other. Bodner made Charlie recognize the obvious. For all his Zen and deep thinking, Charlie was astounded that he had managed to hide it from himself when his new FBI friend was able to call it so easily. _Of course_ he loved her. He would do anything for her. And he could absolutely never tell her so because she would tear his face off and then run for the hills.

Dani had the very same epiphany at around the same time, with the chalky film of earth and panic in the back of her throat and the scent of oranges in her nostrils. She recalled thinking that she had discovered it too late. But then Charlie had miraculously survived, escaped jail, and she realized that time wasn't the issue; her own cowardice was. It terrified her. _He_ terrified her - what he had automatically done for her without ever asking for anything in return, the fact that he was the craziest sonofabitch she knew and yet she understood him perfectly. This kind of made her responsible for him now and she hadn't gone looking for that; in fact she had actively kicked against it all the time she had known him. She hadn't wanted to know him, to become involved with him or to care but he'd seemingly adopted her anyhow and now she had fallen in love. _Damn him_. She felt more than a little outraged that he had waltzed into her life with his stupid grin and his cups of melon and vanquished her in a battle that she hadn't even known she was fighting. But more than that she just felt _it_ and she didn't know what to do with it. It was huge. She had only been in love once before and that had been a total car crash also.

They both struggled with the weight of it in their own ways over the next few weeks. Mercifully, they were separated to a degree while Dani reluctantly recuperated and Charlie observed a forced leave of absence while the brass tried to figure out the mess with Nevikov. Things were a little strained for a while as both partners detected the shift in their dynamic and felt their way back to a practical means of dealing with each other. During those first few days it was uncomfortable and it was never articulated, but it was undeniably there in his blue and her brown eyes whenever they looked at each other. He knew it and she knew it but the unspoken agreement that they wouldn't _go there_ meant that they could slowly begin to relax. She thanked him of course, for delivering her from Nevikov, but it seemed paltry and like she had taken him for granted. He shrugged it off like it was all in a day's work and made a fuss of the huge basket of fruit that she had delivered to him at the office, rather than to his home since that would have been too personal. It was the end of the first week back on duty together before she finally cracked, troubled by the pressure of the thought that she hadn't gone far enough to show her gratitude and the fact that it was a Friday night and this meant that she wouldn't see him again until Monday morning. They stood in the elevator alone together at the end of the day and she suddenly lunged forward, grabbing him tightly and squeezed the air out of his lungs, letting him go again before he had the chance to react and as the bell signalled that the doors were about to open onto the parking lot. She looked at him briefly to make sure he had gotten the message and darted out of the elevator towards her car. Charlie sank into the seat of his loan car, bewildered by the sudden hug but under no illusion as to what it had all been about, regretting that they'd never had the Nevikov conversation where he'd tell her that he would do it all over again exactly the same in a heartbeat.


	2. Chapter 2

Returning to the routine of work made things a lot easier. They clicked back into their old ways as soon as they had a case on and the relief this brought them and the will for this respite to continue made them a more efficient team than ever. They threw themselves into their work in a bid to get back to normal and to distract themselves from the fact that they now saw each other in a totally different light. Talking incessantly about their cases meant that there was little room for anything else to creep into conversation. The occasional awkward silence when their minds had strayed was immediately filled with discussion of new theories and leads.

He pretended not to notice how glossy her hair was as she drove when she turned to look the other way at a junction and she ignored the sleek line of his chest under his shirt when he took his jacket off before getting into the car. Nothing was getting said but it was all going on in their heads, constantly, night and day, 24/7. Every little detail from the day was recorded and stored in Crews' memory bank, so that when his head hit the pillow at night it was all right there for him to process in the freedom of his solitude, allowing him to wallow in his feelings and keep himself from going insane. Dani had her own methods of coping, preferring instead to hit the gym to rid herself of some of the tension borne of sitting so close to her partner all day that she could imagine how his cologne would make his neck taste. She was earning herself a pretty impressive set of abs in the process, such was the effort required to banish thoughts of Charlie from her mind. She wanted to make herself strong, partly because she enjoyed the punishment of exercise and partly as a measure to prevent anyone ever taking her prisoner again and making her feel as weak as Nevikov had.

Tidwell watched as the duo's already impressive case-solved rate soared. There had been some talk of halting the partnership and assigning them to new co-workers, but the facts spoke for themselves. They were great detectives and they worked well together. Professionally, Dani was more motivated and focused than ever. He hardly saw her, she was either working or at the gym. He wasn't sure where she got the energy from. Personally though, Tidwell noted that his girlfriend was now more erratic and emotionally distant than he had ever known. They limped on together for a few months, Dani using the fact that she was with Tidwell as another tool to drown out her feelings for her partner and Tidwell imploring her to seek professional help over Nevikov, since he put the change in her down to the trauma she simply would not talk about. He tolerated her moods and her coldness, thinking that she would eventually snap out if it and hoping that she would come back to him just as she had been in the beginning of their relationship, if only he could resist pushing her too hard. She only ever seemed happy nowadays when he spotted her across the office, deep in conversation with Crews about a case. He'd be jealous if it seemed like they were goofing around, or if it looked like Dani was sharing confidences with her partner in a way that she refused to with him, but no, it really did seem that it was all work.

Dani knew she was treating Tidwell badly. She knew they didn't belong together and she knew she was being dishonest in sharing his bed several nights a week. But she felt like she needed the cover he provided. She was using him. If she was still with Tidwell and if she and Charlie remained so busy at work she could convince herself that everything was normal, nothing need change at all until she had caught her breath and was ready. Things with Charlie might calm down, level out, and then she could safely come out from behind the charade with Tidwell. Too much change all at once might tip the balance and trigger all kinds of fallout and she just didn't feel ready. She hated herself for it but this was the way it was.

Even though Dani had flawed strategies in place which allowed her to keep it together, she worried about Crews because as time wore on, far from things getting easier, she had observed a change in him too. He was acting a little nutty. Like, more than ever before. He worked hard, he seemed to see the merit in that for the same reason Dani did, but she saw his mask slip more frequently than her own. She could see him thinking about_ them_ in the car sometimes, he was uncharacteristically quiet a lot more often. There was less Zen talk. She caught him staring wistfully at her across the desk. She figured that he found it harder to hide than Dani did. Probably because he was naturally a more honest and open person than she was, she thought. He was better than her, she decided, he would never drag a third party through his mess like she was doing to Tidwell.

Dani saw that Charlie was hurting and this in turn hurt her. He said nothing of course but she had noticed that his little outbursts of aggression were becoming more frequent. The con was lashing out past the cop's self control. The day that Dani chased down a perp and became involved in a tussle when she reached him, Charlie scared the life out of her. Dani had kicked the lowlife's legs out from under him, bringing him down heavily on top of her. The guy used his weight advantage and roughed her up a little, slapping her around and was about to go in with his fists when Charlie caught up and completed the arrest. Once Charlie saw what the guy had done to Dani he took it upon himself to beat the shit out of him as he put on the cuffs, breaking his arm and his nose and cracking his ribs. She had to haul Charlie off of him, or else she couldn't have been certain that he would have ever stopped. Luckily, the perp was drug-addled, expected no better from the LAPD and issued no complaint once in custody. Dani had later screamed at her partner in their car that she wasn't about to let him become one of _those_ kinds of cops; if he wanted to go down that road he could find somebody else to ride with. Charlie apologized, was sullen for the rest of the day, clearly upset with himself, but it just kept on happening. Crews was getting a little heavy handed with anyone who even spoke to her the wrong way. Dani had always known that he had it in him, he was twelve years inside for Christ's sake, but she could also see that his anger was misplaced. He was going to land himself in more trouble before long and she knew that deep down it was over her.

She thought she saw him glowering covertly at Tidwell in the office on occasion. Nobody else would have noticed it, least of all Tidwell himself, but she saw Charlie's eyes cloud over when the Captain tried to joke with him, or his jaw clench when Tidwell called Dani into his office alone. Dani realized that while the knowledge that she was sleeping with another man kept Charlie at bay, he wasn't dealing with it very well either. He couldn't vent his possessiveness and it was turning him mean. In truth, she and Tidwell weren't really all that physical together any longer but the pretence that they were, and the expectation that they should be, was causing problems both at home and at work. Staying with her boyfriend-of-convenience wasn't right for Tidwell, for her or for Charlie. It had to stop and it should have stopped a lot sooner, to Dani's shame.

As far as Tidwell was concerned, it wasn't a great surprise. Things had been way off for a while and the harder he had tried to make it better, the further away she slipped. They hadn't slept together in maybe two months and he was at the point where he felt paralyzed between saying something about the way things were to maintain some degree of self respect and not wanting to bring on the inevitable end of their affair any sooner than it had to happen. He was sad, and relieved in a way, but not totally heartbroken since he had seen it coming like a cruise liner on the horizon. Not like when his second wife had left him, a bolt from the blue which had left him in tatters and easy pickings for wife number three. Dani was calm and firm and extricated herself from his apartment with such efficiency that once she was gone he wondered how much she had ever really been there at all. There was no second trip made to pick up left over belongings or to claim the stuff that they had bought together but agreed that she should take. She had only ever been there in body, her mind and her real life, whatever that was, had always been elsewhere, he concluded. As if she had only ever been taking refuge with him until a storm had passed. She cared about him but she wasn't in love with him, she had said. And she was sorry, she kept on saying, over and over. Tidwell didn't understand what she was sorry for; apologizing for not being in love with someone seemed weird. It wasn't something you could help. He knew that it was going to take him a while to get over her but they were going to remain friends and he told her that he wouldn't stop caring. He wanted to make that clear now so that she understood the next time he _'interfered_' as she put it. He stopped short of mentioning Nevikov because he didn't want an ugly fight but he was sure that things had been failing ever since she was kidnapped. He would take that up with her another day, maybe see if Crews knew anything too.

Dani felt relieved to have finally done the right thing, but also exposed and anxious that her safety blanket had now been removed. She wanted to tell Charlie so that he might chill out a little but she still was not ready for his response if he decided to interpret it as a green light.


	3. Chapter 3

Dani ran her hand through her ponytail and let out a huge, exasperated sigh, drawing Crews' attention across the desk as they sat there in silence on a Wednesday afternoon writing up case reports. She was bored and jittery, she had drunk too much coffee and she still hadn't let Charlie know that her and Tidwell were history and she had already missed several opportunities to slip it casually into conversation. It was playing on her mind. She didn't want it to be a big announcement and make him think that she wanted him to do anything about it. She did want to put a stop to the brooding that he thought she hadn't noticed him doing.

"Want coffee?", she asked.

"No thanks.", he replied, holding up a large green apple, as if that were an explanation.

His eyes followed her as she wandered off with her mug, taking in her legs. He was now practised at taking the opportunity to gaze at her unguarded when her back was turned. He put his feet up on the desk, sank his teeth deep into the apple and thought torrid thoughts about her as he watched her walk away. Tidwell clearing his throat behind him made Charlie jerk upright and school his features into a neutral expression in case the contents of his daydream could have registered on his face in any way.

"Hey, Charlie.", Tidwell said quietly in a conspiratorial tone.

'Charlie' and not 'Crews'; this wasn't a work conversation. Charlie's mind raced as to what Tidwell wanted from him, since it was clear from his posture that he did want something. Charlie knew that Dani's birthday was approaching, the useless clown had better not be working Charlie for gift ideas that Tidwell would take all the credit for. Charlie swung round in his chair to face the Captain.

"Has Dani said anything to you?", Tidwell asked eagerly.

Charlie frowned. "She says plenty. About what, exactly?"

Tidwell took a breath. Why did every conversation with Crews turn out this way? The guy was hard work. "I mean, is she okay? Has she mentioned _us_ at all?"

Charlie narrowed his eyes, confused. "_Us_? What do you mean, Captain?", he asked innocently.

Tidwell bit down on his rising impatience, he knew that Dani would be back at her desk in a second. "We, uh, broke up last week. I wondered what she'd said to you about it. If she's okay?"

Charlie raised his eyebrows. "I didn't know...she hasn't said anything to me." His mind was working overtime, trying to remember if Dani had been any different with him over the past week. This was a big development, he thought. Why the silence?

"Huh.", said Tidwell. "Is that weird?", he asked Charlie. "That you'd broken up with your boyfriend of over a year and not mention anything to your partner?"

"Weird that I'd have a boyfriend, or weird that I didn't mention it to Dani? It's the 21st century Captain, anything goes.", Charlie deadpanned.

Tidwell wasn't amused by his joke. "But you guys talk, right? Dani talks to you?"

"Sometimes. She's not a great sharer though...", Charlie shrugged.

"Yeah, I know how _that_ goes. Would you find out for me though? See that she's alright?", he requested anxiously.

Charlie screwed up his face. "Can't you ask her yourself? I mean, I'm not supposed to know, right? She hasn't told me...so I can't ask her about something I don't know." He was reluctant to start acting as their go between and he didn't imagine that Dani would tolerate it for one second either.

"C'mon, man. Do it for her. She's been acting weird since Nevikov, I'm worried that it has something to do with that and she's not dealing with it. Just keep an eye on her for me. Okay?" Tidwell saw Dani coming back to the desk, trying not to spill her coffee.

Charlie nodded discreetly and Tidwell tapped the side of his chair in thanks and to draw the conversation to a close. He smiled weakly at Dani and withdrew.

"What did he want?", Dani asked Charlie nonchalantly as she sat down.

"Uh, nothin'. Just shooting the breeze." Charlie lied. He realized that he was gripping his apple so hard that his knuckles were turning white. He had only taken one bite but he had lost his appetite completely. He tossed it into the trash can beneath his desk.

"No good?", asked Dani, meaning the apple. He hadn't realized that she was still watching him.

"Naw. Tastes funny.", he replied.

Dani settled back down to her report, pulling a pen from its resting place in her hair to mark the file with. Charlie sat quietly, unable to work, a nagging ache in his stomach, wondering at his partner's actions.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry about the slow progress / sparse updates with this story - family stuff. Thanks to anyone still reading and reviewing!**

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Charlie arrived a little late to work that morning. He had overslept, which was rare for him, a consequence of the sleepless nights his partner was causing him. Dani had texted him to ask where the hell he was, they had a case on already and she was waiting for him to arrive before she set out to answer the call, imagining that he must already be on his way to the office. She was right, because he sauntered out of the elevator twenty seconds after she hit 'Send'. He registered her tapping her foot impatiently against the side of her desk as his cell went off in his pocket. He drew up to her and handed her a steaming cup of coffee made to her exacting specifications, which he knew by heart, without comment. She took it from him gratefully, already feeling guilty about the terse text message she had just sent him; he probably would have made it to work on time if he didn't insist on swinging by her favourite coffee place every morning to bring her a drink. It was one of the little kindnesses he showed her on a daily basis, he now considered it an essential part of his journey to work. He read her text message as she took her first sip.

"Where's the fire, Reese?", Charlie asked, trying not to zone in on her lips as she swallowed.

"Fatality at a factory just outside town. Paper mill. Caucasian adult male, crushed by something heavy on a forklift truck. A sticky end." Reese was always economical with her words first thing in the morning.

"Accident?" He seemed to be chatting the case over with her but she could tell that he was on automatic pilot. He was standing too close, his eyes were wide and thirsty, drinking her in. She knew when she was being checked out.

"That's what we need to figure out.", she stated. He smelled really good this morning, she noticed. And was that a new tie? Ugh, it was going to be one of those days, a day when she found it hard to keep her mind on the job. She had to keep them moving, or else this was what they'd slip into; him looking at her and her looking at him. It could last for hours. One day she would snap; and she felt that it would be her who snapped first too, since he was all Zen and infinite patience and shit. Not that she wanted him to give in, she reminded herself, _strictly business_ was just fine. They had to keep busy. Focused. Lucky she'd signed up for some insane 'Body Smash' exercise session at the gym that night, she thought. She normally wasn't one for collective workouts or being instructed, but this class promised to put her through her paces and exhaust her; she would be too tired to obsess about her partner into the early hours tonight.

"Thanks for this.", Dani raised her coffee cup.

Charlie smiled a shy crooked smile. He knew that this was an apology of sorts for the snarky text and he forgave her immediately. How did someone manage to look so sexy when drinking coffee?, he wondered. Coffee wasn't a very sexy drink but she made it look amazing. But then most things seemed alluring when Dani did them, he decided. Chewing the end of her pen, tying her hair back, fiddling with her car keys, frowning (normally at him)...he composed the beginnings of a list that he would work on properly once alone at home tonight.

"Detectives.", Tidwell greeted them in a very businesslike manner as he whisked by on the way to his office, unshaven, tie flapping over his shoulder.

"Captain.", they replied in unison. Charlie looked after him as sped past, blinked heavily and then looked at Dani, wondering if she would flinch. Nothing.

"We should leave.", prompted Dani, suddenly nervous now that Crews and Tidwell were in close proximity.


	5. Chapter 5

Minutes into their journey, they realized that this call was going to take a whole lot longer than they had anticipated. The traffic was snarled up all over town and Dani drummed her fingers on the wheel, retrieved her sunglasses from the glove compartment and fished out a stick of gum from her inside jacket pocket as their car crawled forward. She continued to fidget, still not entirely comfortable with being completely alone with him where he could suddenly, and often did, come out with anything. Charlie, on the other hand, sat motionless, looking up at the sparse clouds and watching the odd plane streak the sky.

Dani threatened to use the siren, until Charlie reminded her that it would do more harm than good. There was no place for the other cars to move to even if they tried to let the detectives pass. They'd cause chaos. And the squished guy at the factory was going nowhere, after all, he remarked blithely. Dani rolled her eyes. His calm in testing situations was infuriating - that was one thing that hadn't changed.

When they finally reached the paper mill, the stench hit them as soon as they stopped the car. Something sulphurous. They had been called to the scene of countless homicides in their time, with bodies in all states and stages of decomposition, but the mill stank to high heaven. They held their jacket sleeves to their noses and mouths.

"It's the bleach we use to dye the paper white.", explained Pete, the Site Manager who greeted them. "You get used to it after a while."

Dani grimaced and trailed behind him and Charlie as Pete led them to the body. From the vehicles in the parking lot, Dani noted that the Occupational Safety guys and a LAPD Forensics team had beaten them to the scene, they were probably already bitching and fighting amongst themselves she guessed, based on previous experience. This was going to be a drag, she thought.

"Ralph Myers. A good guy. Worked here for twenty years. Terrible accident.". Pete stopped short of the cordon, took off his hard hat and turned his back on the scene in respect so that Crews and Reese could get by and take a look beyond the screens that had been erected.

Just as she thought, there were far too many investigators on the ground, all territorial and trying to assume control. Crews crouched down to examine Mr Myers. Reese noted the position and the contents of the barrels that had apparently crushed him. They swapped roles a few minutes later and then withdrew to compare notes.

"Accident. Industrial negligence?", Dani asked him in a low voice. "Those barrels shouldn't have been stacked so high on that truck."

He wished she wouldn't whisper at him like that, it gave him all sorts of ideas and made the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. It was another one of those things she did for his _sexy_ list. He preferred it when she yelled.

They left the specifics to the forensics guys and retired to interview Pete. Despite everything pointing to a tragic workplace accident, Dani was dismayed to hear Charlie being a thorough and conscientious detective and encouraging Pete to hold forth for more than fifteen minutes on industrial relations at the paper mill. Ralph Myers had been a staunch union man, instigator of several complaints and strikes. Reese had to break it up and urge Crews to move on to the task at hand and interview the witnesses. Charlie winked at her when Pete offered to make them comfortable in the boardroom, which had air con and didn't not smell like the rest of the mill, and fetch them coffee before bringing through those of the mill employees who had been present that morning when Mr Meyers had met his end. Dani smiled despite herself; when Crews played good cop he never failed to establish a rapport with people. She agreed that coffee would help make this wild goose chase pass quicker and tried not to think about the mountain of paperwork waiting for her back at the office. The sudden cold air of the boardroom meant that she could now make out her partner's nipples through his fine sky blue shirt. She kept her own jacket on, drank her coffee and fixed her eyes on her notepad.

Three witnesses who had been in the immediate vicinity of the accident and their union representative; the rest of the workforce had been sent home and the mill powered down. They took brief initial statements from each of them, taking great care with Anthony Zemeckis, the guy who had been driving the forklift truck, was only two months on the job and who was understandably distraught. It was all formality and sadly Dani had seen it before. Zemeckis had been inadequately trained, the vehicle he was operating was overloaded, the mill's safety procedures were lacking and now a man was dead. Typically, the CEO and Vice president were overseas and there was not much else to be done apart from hand over officially to the officious Occupational Safety investigator, who glanced triumphantly at his opposite number on the forensics team, and recommend that the mill arranged transport home for the witnesses. They could establish no motive and had no grounds for suspicion. She composed the case report in her head. Sometimes the job was like this, rued Dani, not every call was going to turn out to be a grisly murder that she could get her teeth stuck into. Still, half the day was now gone and she could feel her frustration rising.

On the drive back to the office, they were about to pass by a park when Crews buzzed down his window and took a deep breath, apparently inhaling the smell of the grass, probably a relief after the stink at the mill.

"Hey, can we stop? Take a break?", he urged her.

Dani looked reluctant. Today was amounting to nothing.

"C'mon Reese, take the time! It's a beautiful day, you don't want to spend it cooped up in the car, or worse, the office - right? They'll call us if they need us.", he reasoned.

He had a point, she decided, and he was beginning to win her over when he spotted the hand-painted sign at the side of the road that clinched it.

"Reese! Snow cones! C'mon, we have to stop now!" Crews was practically bug-eyed with excitement. She didn't want a snow cone but his enthusiasm was infectious. She couldn't decide whether he was more like a seven year old kid or a labrador. Either way, she didn't want to spend the rest of the journey back to the office with him whining in the car because he din't get his way.

He grinned at her as she pulled in to the parking lot and had his belt unbuckled before she had even turned off the engine.

"What flavor do you want?", he asked, giddy.

"Not for me thanks, I'm good.", she shook her head.

He bounded off to see the snow cone guy while she found a bench, taking the side that the sun hit and leaving him the shadier spot to the left.

A few minutes passed before she felt him approaching from behind. He sank down onto the bench and held out a chocolate ice cream, the cone wrapped in a red napkin to catch any drips.

She took it from him with a sly smile. "_Now_ you're talking."

He started sucking on his cherry flavor snow cone, satisfied at last. It stained his lips cerise but she didn't tell him. She watched the patterns that the dappled sunlight passing through the tree above them made on his face.

"You were right, this is nice.", Dani conceded, relaxing as the sun's rays hit her skin and the ice cream melted on her tongue. Maybe days like this weren't so bad after all.

They were quiet for a minute. Dani took a deep breath.

"So Tidwell and I broke up.", she said with a level voice.

They both sat with their eyes fixed front, gazing out over the park, pretending to watch the moms chasing their kids, the young couples entwined on their blankets and the septuagenarians tottering along with their toy dogs.

He paused before answering long enough to cause her to look across at him to make sure he had heard her. She saw that he'd sucked all the red syrup out of his snow cone in the one particular spot that his lips were still rooted to. It was like he was frozen too. She looked away again.

"I know. Tidwell told me.", he replied simply.

Dani's head snapped back towards him in surprise. "You knew? Why didn't you say something?"

Charlie shrugged. "I figured that you'd tell me if you wanted me to know. It's none of my business, right?" Now it was his turn to shoot her a look. He longed for her to tell him that it _was_ his business.

That last question was pretty leading, she thought. "It's not that I didn't want you to know, Crews, I was just getting used to it myself.".

He nodded sagely like he understood that. "So, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine. A little too fine, maybe. I should have ended things a while ago.", she admitted guiltily. Another quick look towards Crews' eyes. He looked away first. That was as much as he was getting.

"I'm guessing I shouldn't share that with Tidwell."

Dani looked at her partner quizzically.

"Tidwell asked me to find out how you are, to look out for you.", Charlie explained.

"Oh.", she said quietly. She didn't like that they had been discussing her behind her back but she did like that Charlie's way of 'looking out for her' had been to keep quiet and give her some space. _He's learning_, she thought. "Don't worry about Tidwell, I'll deal with him.", she added.

"He thinks it went wrong between you guys since Nevikov. That it changed you.", Charlie was on thin ice and he knew it but he figured that he wouldn't get the opportunity again.

"Well, maybe it did. But it wasn't _because_ of Nevikov. Something like that just makes you realize a few things. One of them being that I shouldn't be with Tidwell."

They looked at one another again and the silence was a little heavy.

He wanted to ask her what else Nevikov had made her realize, or _why_ she shouldn't be with Tidwell, or why it had taken them so long to actually break up. But these questions were all taboo and he knew it. Plus, he already knew the answers, he thought. He wondered if they would ever get from this limbo of half truths to a place where _everything_ was out in the open. And what might happen once they got there.

Dani bit her lip instead of her ice cream. Had she gone too far? She was happy that they had spoken but she wondered just what he was thinking. She hoped that this would be enough to stop him acting like a nut on the job and that he would continue to give her the space she needed to figure the rest out for herself. She wanted space but she also recognized that she could no longer be without him. Even if he did have stupid pink lips.

She handed him a Kleenex and told him to wipe his mouth to try to remove the snow cone stain, telling him that they couldn't expect to command respect as officers of the law if it looked like Charlie was experimenting with her make up on the job.

"Reese?", he said thoughtfully, "If I did decide to go for a more feminine look, you would advise me on which colors suited me and stuff, right?"

"Sure.", she said, pursing her lips a little to hide her smile. "Now get in the car."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry guys, progress with this might now be slow due to reasons beyond my control but I will keep going. Reviews and feedback appreciated.**

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Dani sat bolt upright in bed. She was sweating. A dream. _Deep breaths_. Just a dream.

She glanced at the clock's angry red digital display; 02.47.

As she drew up her knees to her chest and exhaled long and hard, she tried to recall as much as she could about it. This time it hadn't been about Nevikov. Recently, most dreams had been about him in a literal sense. Kind of like flashbacks. Then there were the more ambiguous kind; falling from the sky, running down a spiral staircase in flight from something only for the perspective in the dreamscape to pan out and reveal that the staircase had no bottom, she would be running forever. Loss of control, she figured, all to do with having been kidnapped and held hostage. But this time it had been literal and it had been nothing to do with the lanky Russian guy in the terrible sweats and the gold chain.

Sunlight. Bright, bright sunlight and spots of shade. The sun shining down and passing thorough a filter of leaves, casting odd shadows on his freckled forehead and cheeks. The smell of grass, chlorophyll...did that have a smell? Well, in her dream it did.

Tiny spotlights of heat from the sun, pleasure in her shoulders and lower back, and then cold; cold that she was wrestling with, enveloping and gently defrosting. His lips were cold. And tasted of cherries in a synthetic way. Like cherry cola. _The damned snow cone_. She was kissing him and he was willingly being kissed. Right there on the park bench, in public, on duty. She held either side of his face and kissed him slowly and insistently, luxuriating in it, sucking on his lips as they slowly got warmer and less cherry flavored. He held her back, hands near her waist, under her jacket, over her shirt. His hands were warm like the sun. Hot and cold, the sensations persisted.

Full on making out, the kind of kissing you did at fifteen when kissing was the end in itself, rather than a precursor to anything else. That often took place on park benches, too. There was no sound in the dream, nobody spoke and she couldn't hear the noises of the park. She just felt the sensation of growing arousal and the different textures; his hair between her fingers, the cotton of his shirt on his collar contrasting with the skin of the nape of his neck. Cold cherry lips, warm tongue. Like sucking on ice cubes.

She grew breathless and kissed him harder, faster. He matched her, although it was clear she was the aggressor here. She was tilted forward, feasting on his mouth.

And then they broke. Faces still close, he opened his eyes. The second she saw the impossible blue of his irises she had snapped awake.

"Fuck...", Dani whispered to herself as she raked her hand through her hair.


	7. Chapter 7

She felt slightly apprehensive about going into the office the next day. The dream had surprised her, sure, but how much she had enjoyed it and replayed it and relived it since was the real cause for concern. She had barely slept. She sat at the kitchen table drinking her coffee, plenty of time before she had to leave for work for a change because in the end she had just gotten up, it hadn't been worth trying to get any more rest once the sun was up.

Charlie was now driving her crazy. He drove her to distraction when she was awake and he had now infiltrated her dreams too. It was nuts. How had she reached this point?

She sloped across the office, trying to get sat down, get settled, get her PC on with as little fuss as possible before she had to look Charlie in the eye. There was the coffee he had brought her, sat steaming into its lid to the side of her keyboard. He flashed her a broad smile and bid her good morning. She took a deep breath. She should just relax, right? There was no way he could possibly know what had been going on inside her head, inside her bed. There was no way that he could know that she had touched herself over him into the early hours and that was why she had dark circles under her eyes this morning and was tongue tied and a total fucking mess. It hadn't just been a suggestive dream about kissing him on a bench, powered by her subconscious. She had taken it further, and consciously. If he couldn't have know that about her, then what didn't she know about him? She wondered if he was the same. What had _he_ been up to last night? That thought nearly sent her off again and she had to sit up unnaturally straight in order to ward it off. He was the picture of innocence this morning, she thought. So she was sure it was just her. She was a fucking deviant. She needed to get back to the fucking gym.

He was now watching her. She couldn't stand it.

"What?", she asked, it sounding more aggressive than she had meant it to.

"You okay?", he leant forward. "You seem..._off_."

Oh Jesus, he _could_ see it. He was a perceptive motherfucker all right.

"I...I...I'm fine.", she stammered. "I think maybe I have a migraine coming."

"Hey, you know my mom used to suffer from migraines pretty bad too. She would swear by massage to make it better. Head, neck and shoulders. She made me learn how, so that I could help her out. Want me to show you?" He actually made like he was going to get up and come round to her side of the desk.

"No!", she practically yelped. She absolutely couldn't have him touching her. And in the _office_? What the hell was he thinking?

He looked startled at the force of her reaction.

"Sorry. I'm just...kinda jumpy. I'll be fine, Crews, thanks.", she tried to backtrack.

"Maybe stay off the coffee today. It can be a trigger.", he advised.

Great. Coffee was the one thing sure to get her through the day. She scowled, took the lid off her drink and gulped it down in defiance.

Charlie raised his eyebrows and muttered "_Fine_." under his breath, holding up his hands in a 'woah' gesture. Today was going to be fun, he thought.


	8. Chapter 8

Charlie sat patiently in the passenger seat. They were on the way to the home address of a suspect in order to keep tabs on him. Strictly speaking, he was Reese's suspect, Charlie just thought the guy was misunderstood. But Dani maintained that he was a sociopath, so they were on their way to another stakeout. He could think of worse ways of spending his afternoon, maybe the evening too, than in a car alone with her. She had parked up and was getting the snacks. They couldn't be sure how long this would take so fuel was essential, especially if Reese expected Charlie to concentrate and sit still for at least a couple of hours. She knew that she sure couldn't tolerate him in full flow in a confined space on an empty stomach. Charlie had wanted to get out and go to the store with her but Reese was wise to him, the last time she had let him do this she spent and hour trailing around behind him while he sourced the best fruit, squeezed mangoes, juggled oranges and commissioned a bespoke banana and lychee smoothie.

"Um, I'd like a pineapple.", he said decisively when she had asked him for his order.

Dani frowned. She knew without asking that he meant a whole, fresh, pineapple, not plastic-wrapped pineapple chunks. "A pineapple. You're going to eat a pineapple in the car on a stakeout? Could you not ask for something a little more...appropriate..? Portable, even? You'll get juice everywhere. Are you sure you don't want some regular lunch? Like a sandwich? Sushi?" She tried to persuade him to be a little less ridiculous but he was like a wilful four year old who was adamant that he wanted to wear his galoshes and mittens on a steaming summer's day.

"Okay, a sandwich.", Charlie relented and saw Dani look relieved. "_And_ a pineapple. _And_ wet wipes." He grinned at her. He liked messing with her these days, just as he had enjoyed pulling the hair of the girl he liked in the schoolyard when he was a little kid. If he couldn't have what he really wanted, he'd settle for her attention at the very least.

"Jesus." Dani slammed the car door and stomped across the street.

When Dani returned fifteen minutes later, she hopped into the car and practically threw his damn pineapple at him, as well as a sandwich, chips, candy and some obscure-looking Japanese apples she had seen. He had better not start up about food miles. It was much more than he had asked for, but he invariably ate his snacks and then wound up eating hers too and she was hungry herself today.

"Aww, Reese, you brought me the pineapple! I didn't think you would.", he shot her a soppy grin like he was touched.

She didn't know why but this embarrassed her slightly. Like he had been deliberately testing her affections for him with his stupid requests and she had revealed something profound by trying to keep him happy. She reached into her inside pocket and flung a small packet of wet wipes at him, hitting him in the chest. She put her bag containing her food and two big bottles of water in the backseat and prepared to drive off, irritated that all this was taking so long.

Charlie sat there squeezing and sniffing his pineapple, pleased that she had picked him out a good one.


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N**: Continued apologies for the slow burn with this. Thanks for sticking with me and to CCAA, Kimtastic, lipamo, Sar'Kalu, GhostWriterLost for the reviews and also to Silversurf4, not least for your fabulous Life story(ies)._

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Crews and Reese sat parked up, watching the front door intently. Crews munched on one of the exotic-looking apples she had bought him as an afterthought and Dani found herself irritated that he hadn't started with the pineapple that he had been so adamant that he needed more than life itself just thirty minutes beforehand.

"I mean, what has the guy _actually_ done?", challenged Crews.

"Harassment.", Dani stated.

"Harassment or free speech? All he did was slip a flyer or two into a library book.", argued Charlie.

"A misogynistic manifesto, Crews, targeting pretty girls in short skirts who use his library. Just the women. Not the guys. At the very least he's a creep. Two women under 40 then wind up dead, both enrolled at the college, both received a copy of the manifesto from our librarian. In the absence of any other leads, I figure that makes Jackson Bright a person of interest in our inquiry. Beg to differ?". Dani looked at him patiently, waiting for him to protest further.

Crews sighed. "I guess...".

"Why are you defending him, anyway?", she arched her eyebrow at him.

"Oh, I'm not. He _is_ a creep. But he's also a librarian. And we're on a stakeout, sat in the car outside his house and I'll bet he's inside, on the Internet, where he'll be all night, playing _World of Witchcraft_ or whatever it is crazy librarians do. I doubt we'll see much movement here. He strikes me as a virtual kinda guy. All mouth, no action."

"Yeah. _Virtual_. Until he ups and murders two women in cold blood because they offend his _values_..." Dani frowned at her partner. "Anyway, what's with you? Somewhere you'd rather be on a Friday night? Am I keeping you from a date or something?" She used his uncharacteristic bad mood against him.

Any mention of either of them dating, since Tidwell, was against the unspoken rules and they both knew it.

"No Reese, there's no place I'd rather be tonight. _And_ you know it." His tone could be mistaken as sarcasm but the serious look he gave her betrayed the fact that he was speaking the absolute truth. Two could play at this game and if she wanted to push it, then bring it on. It was like a game of chicken.

Dani lost her nerve, looked away and aborted this strand of their conversation. "Eat your pineapple. It might cheer you up."

Charlie gazed out of the passenger side window. Dani frustrated the hell out of him and he was tired, it had been a long week. She didn't have to make a grand declaration or anything, but some kind of a sign that she cared, just a little bit, would have been nice. Just enough to confirm that he wasn't entirely imagining it. More than anything, he just wanted to be allowed to show _her_ that he cared. If he got nothing in return he wouldn't mind so much, just as long as she accepted it. He could feel the pressure building up inside him. One day the dam would burst and drown them both.

An hour and a half went by. They chatted about nothing significant. There was nothing from Jackson Bright, as Crews had predicted - the smartass. Dani ate her sushi, Charlie tried not to watch her in the rear view mirror. He loved those lips. At one point she offered him a piece, and he would have accepted but the thought of her holding out her chopsticks to his mouth while she looked him in the eye made him want to head-butt the dash so hard he would set off the air bag. She probably would have had him use his fingers anyway, he thought.

Charlie started to fondle the pineapple. He was trying to work out how best to peel and eat the thing without making too much of a mess in the car and in doing so proving Dani right about its unsuitability as a stakeout snack. He took out his knife and made a tentative first incision. Pineapple juice immediately trickled down his wrist and dripped onto his pants.

Dani rolled her eyes. This was ridiculous. How could a man she felt inclined to throttle so violently by day be all she could think about as soon as the sun went down and he was no longer by her side? Maybe that's _why_ she wanted to throttle him. Because she wanted him so badly and yet couldn't allow herself to acknowledge it openly. She was doing a lot better with the whole duality of their relationship these days. She decided she had successfully compartmentalized her feelings; she no longer felt so conflicted and embarrassed when casually drinking her morning coffee with the guy she had been fantasizing about so wildly just hours before. It was a means to an end to keep her sane. It had just become the way it was and now felt like a totally sustainable way to live. Only every so often did day and night still blur, leaving her confused, dry-mouthed and almost hypnotized whenever he did something to nearly push her over the edge.

There was no duality for Charlie. He was _on_ all the time. He loved her _all_ of the time. Everything she did was seductive; when she looked squarely at him he felt palpitations. He did his best to chase unhelpful thoughts away and he understood that he had to keep his distance but it never stopped him wishing. Not for one second.

Dani suddenly sat up to attention. Jackson Bright was at the lower floor window, looking out into the street. Their car was set back a way and the light was already failing, they wouldn't be seen. As quick as he had appeared, Jackson was gone again. Forty seconds later, he emerged from behind the drapes on the upper floor, again staring fixedly at something in the front yard. The squat little man in the bathrobe at the window appeared to be shooing a cat. He stood there hissing and agitating his arms and then disappeared as suddenly as he had emerged.

"He's our guy.", said Dani, narrowing her eyes.

"Because he's weird?", asked her partner.

"Yup."

"Does being weird qualify a person as a killer these days?", he cocked his head.

"People don't kill because they're weird but it's a step in the right direction.", she deadpanned.

"Like me, you mean? You've gone on record in the past to say that _I'm_ weird..." He could see why the knowledge that he had killed, maybe more than once, would be an obstacle between them. Dani was a cop through and through, after all. Was that why she didn't want him?

"The _fact_ that you're weird is well established, Crews.._."_

She saw his expression change in the rear view mirror. A mixture of being hurt by her comment and something else. Guilt, maybe. She suddenly felt bad, she was just being flippant. She hated that he still didn't seem to appreciate just how in awe of him she was over what he had done for her and what he had done _to_ Nevikov. And she sure as hell didn't think he should feel guilty for having ended the life of such slime.

"...but in your case the weirdness isn't the deciding factor. With you it's just an added bonus, I guess."

It was the only thing she could think of to say to rescue the conversation. It wasn't exactly what she meant as usual, "..._but I love you anyway_" would have been more accurate, but it had the desired effect and she saw his lopsided grin spread across his face like sunup.

The moment proved short lived when Charlie grimaced sharply and held his hand aloft. He had jabbed his finger with his knife when she surprised him with her backhanded compliment.

Dani cursed and lunged forward with the wet wipes to stem the flow of blood and pineapple juice.


	10. Chapter 10

They were going door to door in a neat-green-lawn, white-picket-fence part of town. An IT consultant in his fifties had gone crazy and shot dead his wife and mother-in-law the day before, although nobody would have thought so from the sedate, pleasant atmosphere that had rallied just a few hours later in the neighborhood. Not even a very local homicide could shake the appearance that everything was just _fine_ in these people's lives. That was, until you spoke to them. Then the incomprehension that something like this could happen in their environment, to people like them, became visible. Reese and Crews needed to ascertain if any of the neighbors saw anything on the days leading up to the murders, whether they knew anything of the family's circumstances and also to reassure them that they were safe again, that their bubble need not burst entirely.

They walked back across the drive of an elderly gentleman whom, they had established, had no information of any merit. Instead, he had managed to almost ignore Dani completely, preferring to address Charlie as the other man present, despite the fact that Reese had been the one asking the questions. The only time he had engaged with Reese, the ranking officer, was to smile at her and describe her as 'comely' at the end of their conversation when he said it had been his pleasure to help the detectives. Crews had smirked at his antiquated choice of words but was pissed on her part for the sexist snub. Dani was used to it, and chose to let the old bird's attitude wash over her; he was no use to them in their investigation anyhow.

Since Dani seemed so relaxed this morning, so _Zen_ even, Charlie decided to test the water with her regarding an invitation to Bobby Stark's barbeque and pool party this coming weekend. He expected her to be hostile, he knew she didn't exactly _get_ Bobby, but Charlie would really like it if she'd agree to go with him, or at least to be there in a social context while he was present too. He decided to ride the wave of her good mood.

"Is it a work thing?" Dani narrowed her eyes.

Charlie didn't know what the right answer to this question was, under the circumstances.

"I guess. I mean, he's inviting people from work.", he replied.

"Uh uh. I don't _do_ work things.", she replied resolutely, shaking her head.

Dani had stopped attending LAPD socials a long time ago. Her tendency to self sabotage was way too strong. Her drink problem and her unshakeable habit of going home with the most unsuitable guy at a party, every time, without fail, made this rule a necessity. She had learned the hard way.

He realized that he had given the wrong answer.

"I don't think it's exclusively a work thing, Reese.", he backtracked.

"Will Tidwell be there?", she inquired.

She could use this as another reason not to go. Things were kind of okay between them but she wasn't ready to hang out with him.

"I think Bobby asked him. I mean I saw him talking to Tidwell right after he asked me. Who knows if he'll actually show up though? Bobby probably just didn't want to leave him out, to be the only one he _hadn't_ asked." Charlie tried to be non committal, not knowing what to say for the best.

"So it _is_ a work thing?" She pounced.

Charlie's shoulders sank, defeated.

"It's not _just_ a work thing. Bobby's family will be there, obviously, his kids, his wife..."

"I'm not _your_ wife, Crews."

An imagining of an eventuality where Dani _was_ his wife immediately span through his mind. He couldn't help it. Him, her, a couple of kids. The little boy would be tall and have freckles like him, their daughter would be dark and have her mother's pout. Both kids would have Dani's wonderful eyes. They would all live happily together on a mango grove. _Was California warm enough to grow mangos? Maybe they'd have to emigrate..._ He'd have to look into where mangos came from.

He snapped out of it.

"I know that, Reese. So does Bobby."

"So why would he invite me?", she pressed him.

"Because we're partners, we all work together."

The second he said it, he knew that all was lost. It was a work thing. He couldn't win; she didn't _do_ work things and she wouldn't go as anything approximating his date even if it had been a social thing.

He looked over at her. Both her stance and her expression said _'I rest my case.'. _Man, she was as stubborn as hell.

"Maybe I'll ask Ted to go with me.", he muttered.

"You do that, Crews.", she said as she rang the bell on the next front door and they prepared their best LAPD faces for whoever was about to open it.


	11. Chapter 11

Charlie sighed. Sex. It was everywhere he looked. He wasn't even actively looking for it but it was there anyway, taunting him.

It didn't use to be a problem. After the first year inside his sex drive had all but evaporated, he had been too depressed to even imagine. The appearance of Connie in his life had awoken certain impulses in him, sure, but these had been mostly romantic rather than physical. Mostly. All his senses screamed 'WOMAN!' whenever she visited the prison complex. But she wasn't just a woman, not just a piece of meat to make him as rabid with lust as all the other cons. Charlie got to sit in the same room as her, to talk with her, to see her up close and take her in. She was a woman alright, but she was also a person - one untainted by prison politics, fresh from the outside. That was so precious to him. Talking with her was like having a window from his cell looking onto beautiful countryside. If he inhaled deeply he could smell ozone, coffee and grass emanating from her hair, all at once. He could smell his home. Once he got over the fact that she represented the world beyond the bars, he was right back to the alarm ringing WOMAN! in his head. She was a fabulously attractive woman at that. The guards were as jealous as the cons. He took beatings over it from both sides. Her smile churned his insides and the very sight of her skin, the way she held herself, her elegant hands leafing through his file, made his tongue feel too big for his mouth and his temples throb. A beautiful woman, apparently interested in _him_, _his_ life, _his_ welfare. His innocence. But he couldn't act on it. Nothing worked on the inside. His body wasn't the same and his mind had changed forever.

Connie had believed in him when nobody else had. She fought for him when everyone else, people he had known all his life, had abandoned him. She trusted in him when his own wife had left him to rot. He couldn't help but fall a little bit in love with her. Charlie had been like a duckling, imprinting on the first person to have shown a shred of faith in him when he had been at his most vulnerable. And he owed her everything. The very air in his lungs today. The sunlight on his skin. The fruit on his tongue. He never forgot that and he never would. When he got out he could have chased her, he could have wrested her away from her husband without too much effort. She didn't try to hide the fact that she had feelings for him too but Charlie knew that like him, she was all tied up in the romance of having rescued him. It wouldn't have lasted. No matter how well he treated her, he would never have been able to fully express his gratitude and she would eventually have grown tired of being thanked. Plus, she was married. She had a husband. When Charlie was set free he felt like he had been given so much that it would have been almost rude, an insult to the universe, to have taken something so precious from someone else.

So, in the absence of love, he had tried sex. His notoriety and his money helped of course but it seemed to be his newfound exuberance and zest for life that sealed the deal every time. He had lost count of the women he had slept with since his release. At first he was like a kid in a candy store. It was as though the hopes and dreams of his fourteen-year-old self in relation to what adult relationships might be like had magically come true. He found himself moving in a circle where there were no strings, no responsibilities and no headaches. All these women wanted was a good time and maybe dinner - he was quick to spot those with designs on his car, his mansion and his bank balance and he stayed away. Weirdly for him, most of his new friends wanted to be with him not because he was a millionaire but because he was a cop. Badge bunnies. Dating cops was apparently a _thing_ for some women. Lucky for him.

Plentiful and easy sex might have gotten boring after a while for some guys. They might have started to hanker for more of a challenge or for something a little more emotionally fulfilling. But Charlie, previously a one-woman kind of a guy, had been quite content to continue just as he was. Empty sex, mindless fucking...it never bothered him until he realized something important. What he realized was that the emptiness didn't bother him because he had been getting everything else he needed elsewhere. The intimacy and trust he used to have with Jen, the effortless knowing of somebody else's mind, being able to finish another's sentences and have them pre-empt your thoughts? He didn't miss it. He didn't miss it because he still had it. That day in the orange grove he realized that he got all that stuff from Reese. She gave him what he needed, only it wasn't physical; he got that part from the badge bunnies. The moment he figured this out he stopped answering his cell when his casual girlfriends called, he quit visiting certain bars, declined invites to the parties where they'd be hanging out. His discovery paralyzed him.

The badge bunnies noted his absence but he barely noticed theirs as he plunged deep into the astonishing recognition that his partner was _way_ more than his colleague. It was only now, months later, wallowing in the fact that he loved Dani Reese and couldn't show it - for reasons he didn't fully understand but accepted nonetheless - that he appreciated the purpose his dalliances with the badge bunnies had served. He was frustrated to an excruciating degree, both emotionally and sexually. It was like wading through syrup, his limbs were heavy with it, he felt slow and tired and lethargic. But it was oh so sweet.

He found gratification in other ways. All the non verbal stuff that went on between them all day. The way she baited him and then argued with him over nothing. She kind of enjoyed the tussle and he knew it. The way he messed with her and always managed to get a reaction, despite her efforts not to show that he got to her. The way that these days, Dani would only go so far in retaliating. He knew it was because she cared. She'd never shoot him like she threatened. She loved him really.

But even though Charlie was a hopeless romantic and an enlightened Zen master, he was also a guy first and foremost. He just really wanted to take her to bed. Sure he'd marry her and buy her a mango grove and all that stuff, but mostly he wanted to pat her down in a very non-LAPD-handbook way.

So the sex he could see everywhere, and could get anywhere, was no good. Charlie only wanted it from the one place from which it was not forthcoming.

He sighed.


	12. Chapter 12

Tuesday.

She was pissed with him. Again.

He wasn't sure what he had done this time to anger her but there was definitely an atmosphere between them this morning. Frosty. He searched his recent memory for possible transgressions. Had he left orange peel in the footwell of the car again? _No_. Did he get her coffee order wrong? _Never_. Had he momentarily taken leave of his senses and actually kissed her good morning in front of all their colleagues like he had imagined himself doing? He didn't _think_ he had, although his urge had been so strong that he couldn't be sure. She had barely spoken to him in the car. She looked like she was struggling with something. He wanted to ask her what but he knew better than to pry where his partner was concerned; she would likely bite his head off.

When she behaved like this he didn't always ever get to the bottom of it. She would just snipe at him all day, slam things around, glare at him but refuse to explain just what had pissed her off. He was supposed to work it out himself, he guessed. Other times she would take him to task for whatever it was and leave him in no doubt at all as to his shortcomings. But today was different. Today she seemed pissed but she was trying to hide it.

They were at the apartment of one Megan O'Mara, deceased aged just twenty-six. Dani surveyed the scene, another young woman cut down in her prime. She didn't work as many cases related to young women as she did young men, sure, but amongst the female victims, those working in the sex industry were disproportionately represented, she reflected. Megan was just one such example. Among her personal effects were the items that led them to believe that Megan had been an 'exotic dancer', as Crews had politely put it when he had emerged from her closet holding various costumes-slash-underwear. There were photos tacked onto Megan's refrigerator of her with her friends, they looked like they were in the same line of work. Dani had found business cards bearing Megan's name from an establishment called The Pearl in her purse. _Did strippers have business cards now?_, she asked. There was a card for a Candi Cole also. A pseudonym? Megan's stage name? There were also various scraps of paper, parts of cigarette cartons with men's names and numbers scribbled on them.

"You think she was a call girl?", Charlie asked her.

"Maybe. It might explain the need for a business card. Even if she was just a lap dancer, she must have been a good one...look at all these numbers, looks like she got propositioned a lot.", replied Reese.

"I know how _that_ is.", Charlie joked. "Women beg me to take their numbers all the time, asking me to dance for them. It gets _embarrassing_."

Stony silence. She had ignored him. Normally she would roll her eyes at him at the very least. He frowned. He had no idea how he had offended her this time.

He decided he should concentrate on the job. "Have you found her cell phone? We should see if she ever dialled any of those numbers. Our killer could be a client."

There were signs of a struggle in the living room, the bedroom had been ransacked and Megan herself laid prone in the kitchen having sustained head injuries and knife wounds.

Crews was deliberately keeping his distance from his partner, quietly looking for the murder weapons, hoping that Dani's mood would improve some before they had to go back to the station.

Dani watched him out of the corner of her eye from across the room. She stood over the body examining her position, trying to ascertain from which angle the blows had come from the trajectory of the blood that had been shed. Although she had plenty to be thinking about, Dani was struggling to keep her mind off the news that had been bothering her all morning.

Back at the station earlier that morning she had overheard two colleagues shooting the breeze, a beat cop and friend of Bobby Stark named Chrissie and Janice the officious office clerk, the eyes and ears of the station no less. They hadn't seen Dani enter the locker room. The subject of conversation was the weekend and specifically the party which had taken place at Bobby's place on Saturday, the one Crews had been bugging Dani all of last week to attend. She had remained steadfast in her refusal to go along, but Charlie and Ted had shown up and enjoyed themselves by all accounts.

"Bobby's sister? You know the one who dated Carlos in Vice?", asked Chrissie.

"Uh-huh, I know her. Kind of a tramp?", Janice nodded.

"Well you said it. She and her little gang were out in force, of course. Kind of inappropriate, if you ask me - I mean, people's _wives_ were there...and there _they_ are hitting on any guy with a badge, wedding band or no. Pretty disrespectful, I'd say."

"Totally.", agreed Janice, shaking her head.

"So anyway, the sister was all over that weird guy in Homicide...what's his name? The one with the eyebrows.", Chrissie prompted.

"Cohen?"

"Yeah, that's him. Except he's engaged, not that that stopped him. And her friend? She was on a mission to bag Crews. Succeeded too, I heard. In Bobby's garage, of all places. Those guys are total dogs off duty, I'm telling you. There were little kids at that party! Bobby ought to have said something. Oh, and Sandra and her husband had a huge fight and he left early, I had to give her a ride home..."

Dani's blood turned to ice. She hid her head in her locker and fiddled with her gym bag, praying they wouldn't notice her.

"Wait. Crews? Aren't he and his partner having a _thing_? Or is that all over?", interrupted Janice.

"Nope. They're still banging, I heard. But maybe not exclusively, huh? A guy with that kind of money? I guess he can do what he likes."

"I guess. He gets around. I hear that his settlement money is not his only asset, if you get what I mean...", Janice quipped.

Both women began to cackle.

Dani had heard enough. She head been wondering how she could possibly sneak out of there without them seeing her but now she was as mad as hell and didn't care. She slammed shut her locker door. Janice and Chrissie both looked up, startled. Dani glowered at them.

"Oh. Uh...Dani...hi. I, um, didn't see you there. Listen, don't think I was speaking out of turn just then, it's just...", Chrissie flailed about, trying to cover her ass and failing, she recognized pretty quickly that there was no neat way out of this one.

Dani gave them a tight smile. Only her eyes betrayed the fact that she was contemplating murder. Like hot coals. Chrissie and Janice were both mortified.

"_Nice_.", Dani said simply, letting her expression communicate her disdain for the two women.

She didn't confirm or deny anything they had said about her and her partner, it would only have provided fuel for more gossip. She fixed them with her dark eyes, letting them know that she would remember this incident, and then coolly turned on her heels and left the room.

That her colleagues talked about her and Charlie in those terms wasn't a surprise to Dani, she had been hearing rumors about herself for months and it had only gotten worse since Nevikov. It had driven Tidwell to distraction while they were still together. The revelation about Crews' weekend activities, on the other hand, did rattle her. She knew more than most that you couldn't believe half of the stories that flew around the station but it made her feel sick anyway.

The thought of him with someone else drove her insane. Now she knew how he must have felt all those months when she was still with Tidwell, knowing what they knew about each other and feeling what they felt. But she had finished with Tidwell to put a stop to that. She wanted to go to him and rip his head off but she knew she had no right. They were partners and that was as far as it went. That was as far as she wanted it to go, _right_? She was in control. _Right_? So why did she feel so wounded? Was this him attempting to move on? Was he through with the fucked up way things had turned out between them? Or was he relying on the fact hat she would get to hear about Bobby's party? Was this an ultimatum? _Use it or lose it, Reese_. Who was this fucking woman in the garage anyway?

Dani rested her head against the elevator wall on the way back up to her floor. She tried to get things straight in her mind. She couldn't ask him what had gone on so she was going to have to forget it. _Impossible_, she thought.

The elevator bell dinged. Crews was the first person she ran into on the office floor and she wanted to punch him hard in the face.

"There you are. We have a call, grab your jacket. A woman, Megan O'Mara, in her twenties, found by her brother...", he started talking but wondered at the faraway look in her eye.

Dani swallowed hard and gripped the car keys tightly, trying desperately to act normal.

Charlie scratched his head thoughtfully and hopped into the elevator behind her.


	13. Chapter 13

"So. What now?", asked Charlie after they had combed Megan's apartment for evidence and gathered some clues as to the sort of person she was and the lifestyle she led.

"Uh, I guess we should visit her place of work. The Pearl...do you have the address there?"

He handed her one of the business cards. She really was all about the case today. She was looking at him differently.

Charlie's eyes twinkled mirth. "You're taking me to a strip club? Is it my birthday? It's only 11.30am on a Tuesday...man, this week is gonna be wild!", he tried to raise a smile or something - _anything -_ from her, but once again failed.

"Well I know you have strict feminist principles, Crews. I'll understand if you want to wait in the car while I go in.", she replied sardonically.

"No, no. I'll be brave. I can handle it.", he assured her. This time she did roll her eyes. But she also looked away like she thought he was an asshole. _Why was he being shut out in the cold? _It hurt him, damn it.

Once in the car, every thirty seconds or so, Crews secretly swivelled his eyes to the side to check on his partner's countenance. She hissed and huffed at the snake of traffic ahead of them but otherwise said nothing. Charlie began to worry a little. His mind immediately span to the worst case scenario. _Was she drinking again?_ His stomach lurched. She wasn't wearing her shades, her hands on the steering wheel didn't betray any tremor, she didn't look overly tired, there was no tang of breath mints in the car and she wasn't drinking any more coffee than usual. _No, she wasn't drinking_. He exhaled a burst of relief once he had quelled that particular anxiety.

She shifted in her seat on noticing him staring at her as he assessed her sobriety.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?", she asked, irritated.

He hadn't realized that he had turned fully towards her. "Um. Is everything okay? You're real quiet today?", he said to cover what he had really been thinking.

"I'm fine.", she looked at the tail lights of the vehicle ahead.

"Are you sure? You've barely said two words to me this morning other than working the case.", he pressed.

Dani sighed impatiently. "You want me to make conversation with you? Aren't we beyond that? You want some chit chat? Well, whatever you want, Crews. How _are_ you this morning?"

She was getting mad, he could hear it in her tone.

"Forget it. Doesn't count if you don't really mean it.", he grumbled, looking out of the passenger side window.

"No, really. Let's _chat, _Crews_._ How was your weekend? Did you and Ted have fun at Bobby's party?", she looked at him pointedly in the rear view.

_Damn it, Dani_, she thought. For the past three hours she had been telling herself that she should absolutely never bring this up and now, the first chance she got, she had done just the opposite. She really was her own worst enemy. She dug her nails into the wheel and hoped he'd miss the reference or the accusation in her voice.

Charlie felt his insides flinch. Just what had he done wrong? _Let's go through that list again._ Orange peel in the car? _Nope._ Coffee with too much cream? _Naw._ Public, or even private, displays of affection in spite of the unspoken rules? _No._

_Ah, yes, you forgot this last one. _ Drunkenly fooling around with a badge bunny at Bobby's party on Saturday? _Um...Check. _

___Shit. You Idiot.__  
_

She knew. He had never confirmed to her that Ted was actually going to Bobby's with him, only that he might ask him along. She had obviously discussed the party with someone. And she now had some crucial details. He had known that it was likely she would find out but he had pushed that thought away. It hadn't taken long for the news to circulate and find its way right back around to the spot opposite his desk.

He regretted the whole thing. It really hadn't been intentional. He and Ted had been having fun at Bobby's, it was nice to hang out and sink a few beers together. Charlie had even just about managed to forget about work and his fixation with his partner for an hour or two. He hadn't realized how much it had been dominating his thoughts until he was momentarily free of it. Ted was in a similar position with Olivia, she was driving him to distraction too, so it had been great to sit back in the sun and just enjoy some straightforward guy-talk about the universe, about kiwi fruit and the definition of something called Relative Strength Index as Ted attempted in vain to explain Charlie's investment portfolio to him. The rule for the day was 'no girl-talk' and they agreed that this suited both of them just fine.

Fast forward three-quarters of an hour and they were both bored, having eaten their fill of burgers and ribs. Ted had already mentioned Olivia four times and had been roundly chastised by his room mate. Charlie had found himself wishing that Reese was there more than once. So when Kathy, Bobby Stark's little sister, introduced her girlfriend Melody and asked if the two of them could join them for a drink, they were more than glad of the distraction and the break from the other's miserable face. Bobby had flashed a death-stare at Charlie from his station at the grill in warning; Kathy was strictly off limits if he didn't want Bobby to chase him with his meat cleaver. Charlie smirked at him from a safe distance; Kathy had decided she was more interested in Ted in any case, forgetting that they had met once before at Charlie's house. In the context of Bobby's party, Kathy had imagined that Ted was police too, maybe even brass due to the fact he was older than Charlie. She liked his authoritative gray hair, he had to be a Sergeant at the very least. Ted did not find it necessary to correct her.

Meanwhile, Charlie chatted amiably with the gorgeous Melody, who was apparently smitten also. He didn't encourage her but the more they drank, the more she laughed at his stupid jokes, the more attractive and available she seemed and the more things with Dani seemed insurmountably complicated in comparison. She had pretty green eyes. They weren't as pretty as Dani's eyes, of course, but Dani didn't want him. Whereas Melody most certainly did. She grabbed his hand as they left Ted and Kathy in the search for more beer and by the time they made it to the huge trash can containing ice cold bottles by the garage she had backed him slowly into the wall and kissed him seductively. Charlie wasn't sure, and was about to make his excuses, but then he figured that it didn't matter, it was just a kiss with a pretty girl at a party. He slowly relaxed into the clinch. When Melody wrapped herself around him and stepped things up a gear, his fate was sealed, his body was responding far faster than his mind and she soothed the frustration that had ratcheted up inside him over the past few months of chastity. When she stepped away from him and tugged him through the open door of the garage, he let himself be led because her lips had fogged his brain and his hands already bemoaned the absence of her hips. Melody turned the key in the door behind them to prevent interruptions, smiled wickedly in the half light and pushed Charlie down onto the old couch that Bobby's wife made him watch ball games on. Charlie's eyelids drooped with lust as she wriggled in his lap but the alarm in his brain still managed to sound when she slid between his legs onto her knees. This had already gone way further than he ever intended. He asked her to stop but she protested with her voice purring irresistible vibrations against his thigh. He hesitated a moment too long. His body won the tussle with his mind, he shot one last glance over at the locked door, gripped the armrest and sighed as the back of his head hit the couch and his eyes lost focus on the garage ceiling.

He had felt guilty almost immediately. He couldn't even allow himself to enjoy the moment, which fucked with his Zen sensibilities and rendered the whole incident pointless in his opinion. He felt like he had been unfaithful, which, he reflected, was ridiculous. He and Dani were not together, probably never would be. Until very recently, she had been sleeping with their boss. That was _way_ worse. He was a single guy, surely Charlie could do as he liked? Except he hadn't even liked it; in the end it had only been the fact that he had grabbed a fist of Melody's hair, which he then noticed was dark and luscious like Dani's, that got him off. Dani haunted him. Worried that Melody would pick up on his reticence, he spent a while with her afterwards so as not to seem impolite and agreed that she should enter her number into his cell so he could call her sometime. He already knew he would never call, he wanted to forget all about it as soon as possible. A short while later, he made his way back to Ted who was once more alone, having lacked the most basic skills of deception required to continue the charade that he was an officer of the law. For a convicted fraudster he was a terrible liar. Kathy had ditched him for a real cop and was fawning over some guy named David Cohen on the far side of the pool. Ted shuffled around under a tree and glumly contemplated calling Olivia to beg her to take him back after their latest spat.

Charlie might have known that it would be all over the station by now, the way his colleagues talked. Really it was a miracle that it had taken until Tuesday for Dani to hear it.

A couple of beats passed as he met her eyes in the mirror. He didn't know for sure what she had heard but he could see that his expression had confirmed what she thought she knew.

"It was fine. Just a party.", he replied quietly.

"Oh yeah? _Just_ a party?", she was going to make him squirm.

"Yeah, you know, people, drinks, music, a cookout. You should have gone."

"I'm not sure I would have enjoyed myself, Crews". Her voice was hard. She was now referring directly to the incident in question and he knew it.

"It would've been different if you had been there...better." He wanted so badly to apologize.

"Huh.", she said and looked away. For a second before she flicked her eyes away he read pain on her face.

Conversation over, they were both silent for the rest of the drive. _Was this a fight they were having? _If it was, it was the weirdest fight he had ever had. He was most definitely sorry. It didn't matter that there was technically nothing to apologize for. She was pissed off, hurt even, and he regretted that; it hadn't been worth it and he wished he could take it back. She obviously cared but they both pretended she didn't and he had obviously hurt her and they had to pretend he hadn't. He was getting sick of living two realities at once, it was exhausting and he couldn't keep up. He wondered how he could make it up to her, he knew Dani was terrible with grudges. She did not forget and she probably wouldn't let him forget either.

Dani parked up outside The Pearl, popped her belt and made to climb out of the car.

Before he had really thought it through he reached over quickly and grabbed her arm to stop her getting out.

"Dani, wait...", he said, unsure of what he wanted her to wait for. He didn't know what he was supposed to say.

Dani went stiff at the contact with his hand and the sound of her first name on his lips and only then did he understand just how upset she was. She glared at him.

"What have I told you about touching me? You don't _get_ to touch me.", she snapped.

Charlie let go immediately and she got out, slamming the door and stalking off towards the strip club.

He sighed deeply and looked to the sky, the habit of a lifetime. He reminded himself that it was the universe that was making fun of him, not a god in heaven. The universe was all around him, it _was_ him. Each moment was the universe.

He took a deep breath. He even pissed himself off sometimes.


	14. Chapter 14

_Jesus_. She was pretty sure he had been about to say something earth-shattering just then in the car.

Dani moved towards the entrance of The Pearl as quickly as she could without breaking into a run. She needed some distance between her and Charlie right now, which was awkward because they had a case to work and were headed to the same place. If she could just get a few seconds ahead of him, she would be able to collect herself and think.

She could still feel where his long fingers had grasped her wrist. He had been ready to break the spell and put it all out there. That was why she should never have challenged him about Bobby's party. He was far too prone to honesty.

Them together? Right now she was pretty sure that was _never_ going to happen. Turned out that Crews was essentially just as much of a jerk as every other guy she had ever met. She cursed herself for letting him see that what he did and who he saw bothered her. Who was she kidding? It more than _bothered_ her. It tore her up inside. She didn't like him having that knowledge and power over her. It hurt her pride.

She could trust him with her life but she couldn't trust him to keep it in his pants. That, right there, was a good enough reason to stay the fuck away, keep things purely professional.

The glaringly obvious point that it had already gone much further than that escaped her for the moment.

Really, it was a good thing this had happened, she told herself. The fact that he had fucked up before they even really got started saved her from having to make the decision. No need to take that leap. It gave her an excuse. She no longer needed to accept that her own near-phobia of putting herself on the line with somebody she actually had feelings for was the real issue. In fact, all her fears had been justified; he could hurt her and he had just proved that he probably would.

She stepped into the dark club. The first thing she saw was the bar. The stools. The array of liquor bottles and the glasses glinting under the spotlights. The optics. Jesus, she could use a drink. She could allow the afternoon to spill into the night there and this mess with Crews would just bleed away. The fact that he was about ten paces behind her and would never let her get away with that killed the thought dead.

Dani asked to speak with the proprietor of the establishment. While she waited, she took a moment to tramp down all the ugly feelings that had suddenly sprung up in her chest since that morning in the locker room. She took a deep breath and smoothed down her clothes. _C'mon Dani. Think LAPD Detective, not woman scorned. _

Within a minute Benji Pearlman stood in front of her, looking her up and down with dollar signs and worse in his eyes.

"Welcome to The Pearl. You looking for work, honey?", he asked with a predatory grin.

"No sir, I'm looking for you.", she replied, flashing her badge.

Dani felt Crews come to stand by her side in silence. She didn't look at him but felt relieved to know that he was there. He could have chosen to stay in the car sulking and ambush her with more awkwardness when she returned. Hopefully this meant that the matter was over with.

Things might not be straightforward between them but as far as the lapdancing empresario was concerned, they looked every bit the united front.


	15. Chapter 15

Benji looked amused that the pretty-pretty girl before him was actually a cop and here to bust his balls in an entirely different kind of way.

"Benji Pearlman. _You_ can ask me anything you like, sweetheart.", he drawled.

Charlie tensed and shot daggers at the short, swarthy clubowner. There was no way he was going to tolerate that kind of attitude towards his partner, even if she did hate him right now.

Benji registered the threat but remained cocky, he dealt with police all the time, they didn't scare him. He was genuinely shocked to hear of the death of Megan O'Mara but she was relatively new to his club and he felt he had little information to offer the Detectives. Benji refuted Reese's insinuation that his establishment was anything other than a lapdance bar; everything was above board and '_his girls_' were not for sale. While his demeanor screamed 'PIMP', he maintained that his employees were 'dancers' and 'artistes'; if they were also hookers then it was nothing to do with him and it absolutely did not take place on his premises. He ran his tongue over his front teeth, satisfied with himself.

Dani found him to be a singularly loathsome character. He thought he was smart. The way he looked at her made her shiver. Benji freely volunteered that his girl Candi, who had been close to Megan, should talk to she and Crews, probably to take the heat off himself. Candi was a pro, he had said, glancing sidelong at Crews, and a beautiful dancer to boot.

"No, Sir. We'd like to talk to _all_ your employees. Starting with Miss Cole.", Dani pressed.

Benji looked irritated. _Fucking police. _

"Fine, Detectives, but this here is a going concern. Time is money and I'm a businessman. We got rehearsals to run. I got a bachelor party booked up for tonight..._big_ money, you know what I'm saying? I can't have you in here causing disruptions. This joint is not about the wham-bam-thank-you-m'am, we're talking serious _choreography_ right here. Can we do this tomorrow maybe?" He waved his hands dismissively.

"Mr Pearlman, you can either let us interview your staff here and now or have them leave to help us with our investigation back at the station. Where they will need to present their papers." Dani raised an eyebrow at him.

Benji considered this option for all of three seconds.

"You can see them here." He relented and gestured to a booth reluctantly. "Just don't get in the way." He frowned at Crews. "And you - keep your hands off the merchandise."

Charlie hadn't yet said one word in his company but Benji could feel the waves of contempt radiating from him. He sent the girl behind the bar to go find Candi, all the while keeping his suspicious eyes on the tall Detective.

Dani asked if she could use the restroom before they got started. As she disappeared towards the back of the club, Charlie worried that maybe she was even more upset with him than he had thought and wondered if it was that bad that she needed to take a moment. He had no idea...he was a fucking idiot, he realized.

"She's your boss, huh?", Benji asked, referring to Dani once she was gone. "She does the talking, you're the muscle. You do as she says?"

"I do. And so will you if you know what's good for you.", Charlie replied, stony-faced.

"Feisty, huh? Spirited? You lucky son of a bitch. I'd do exactly what she said too...but only after _I'd_ cuffed _her_." He rasped the laugh of a thousand Marlboros.

Charlie leant in close to Benji and spoke very softly, almost casually.

"One more comment like that from you and I'll come back here after hours and bounce your skull off every surface in this club, Mr Pearlman."

Benji had heard worse but something about the way Crews' eyes had turned to ice told him that he meant it. He seemed like an unbalanced character and Benji had met plenty of those in his time.

"Whoah there Detective, calm down. All I'm saying is that she's a beautiful woman...", he laughed.

"...who happens to be an officer of the law and my superior." Charlie finished his sentence. Maybe he did have some feminist principles after all, he reflected.

"You keep telling yourself that.", replied Benji, chuckling.

Crews was about to reiterate his point to the sleazy little fucker when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder blade. For a second he found himself hoping that the hand belonged to his partner, that she had calmed down and all was forgiven.

"Hi there, officer.", the voice behind him purred. Charlie turned around to greet the voice and was faced with a woman with a bright smile, wearing nothing but full make-up, a red satin thong and break-neck heels.

"I hear you asked for me? I don't _think_ we've met before? I'm always happy to help a police officer. It's kind of early but I guess you guys work shifts. It's so important to kick back and relax, don't you think? Can I get you a drink before we get comfortable?" She licked her bottom lip at him.

Charlie's eyebrows shot skywards.

She looked him up and down, taking in his expensive suit, the well-crafted loafers, the strap of his watch that glinted under the sleeve of his jacket. She scanned his face and decided that he didn't look tense, or violent, or mean. This guy might be an easy first dance of the day, even if she wasn't really due to start work until 3pm, she'd make an exception for a clean-looking client who looked like he could tip as well as Charlie did. She was always on the look-out for guys like this. If she treated him real nice and gave him just the right amount of encouragement it could even become a regular thing. Better him than some of the jerks she danced for.

Charlie had seen Dani slip out of the bathroom and creep beyond a tacky red curtain at the back of the room. She wasn't upset, he realized, he shouldn't flatter himself; she had just been looking for an excuse to go poke around the club. His job had been to keep Benji busy.

Benji grinned lasciviously, defying Crews not to be flustered by the beautiful, near nude woman standing before him. He sniggered, "Fill your boots, Detective." as he wandered off, knowing that for all Crews' bullshit defense of his partner as his 'superior officer', a great pair of tits and a sweet little ass like Candi's would work their magic on the Detective as much as the next guy.

"Detective, huh?", the woman feigned an impressed look. Flattery, and that great ass of hers, generally got her everywhere.

"Detective Charlie Crews.", he confirmed. "What's your name, Miss?", he smiled, fighting valiantly with the male impulse to look at her breasts.

"Candi. Candi Cole.", she offered him her hand and he took it. Candi was accustomed to being naked and she even found it empowering in a one-on-one situation. Especially with a figure of authority. Their desire generally cut them down to size put her in control. She had never failed to transfix a guy with her body, whether he was wearing a badge or not, so long as he was straight. Charlie would be no different, she thought. She had danced for plenty of cops before. However, his handshake was so businesslike that Candi started to suspect that he wasn't there for pleasure and felt deflated that the big tip she had imagined might not wind up tucked inside the band of her thong by the end of their encounter as she had hoped.

At that moment Dani stumbled back through the curtain to see Crews across the room engaged in polite conversation with a naked stripper.

"Fuck's sake, Crews...", she muttered to herself.

She did not welcome the harsh flash of jealousy she felt at the mere sight of him in the stripper's presence. She was getting to know the green-eyed monster real well lately, she mused. She needed to get a grip.

Charlie began to take his jacket off as Dani approached them. Candi was pleased that he seemed to be making himself comfortable as she had suggested. Her face fell as he handed it to her just as Dani drew up to where they stood. The two women exchanged hostile looks.

Dani was determined to hide her animosity towards the nude woman talking to her man. The realization that she considered Charlie _hers, _and that she would have been inclined to scratch this woman's eyes out if this had been anything but a work situation, stung her deep as she tried to school her expression to 'neutral'.

"What, you're together?", Candi glanced between them. The proprietary glint in Dani's eyes hadn't been lost on her. "Is this like a kink with you guys? Am I dancing for you or for her?"

Charlie ignored her. "Would you like to borrow my jacket?", he asked, his voice warm and kind.

"No, I'm good thanks. It doesn't bother me.", Candi shrugged, now sure that this was a business call, defying him with her eyes. If she could unnerve him with her bare skin, she would. She was a tough cookie.

"I'm sure it doesn't. But it's just a work thing, right? Like a uniform but in reverse? And what I need to talk to you about is of a personal nature. I wouldn't expect to interview an astronaut in his space helmet..." Charlie reasoned.

Despite him being clean and clearly having money, this guy was a little weird, the dancer concluded, as she reluctantly took his jacket. She looked unsure as she slipped her arms through the sleeves and it drowned her petite frame. Robbed of the power of raw flesh and sex appeal, she suddenly felt as small as the tall Detective's jacket made her look.

"This is my partner, Detective Dani Reese.", Charlie introduced. "And this is...", he looked to the young woman to complete his sentence.

"Candi Cole.", she repeated for Dani's benefit.

"And if your grandmother was here right now? What name would she call you by?", Charlie asked.

The light was low and artificial but Dani was sure she saw Candi pale. Her expression fell on hearing Crews' question.

"Katie Wolfenden.", she said simply, off guard and frowning at the left-field mention of her grandma. She worried that something had happened back home and the police had tracked her down here.

"Okay Katie, let's take a seat.", Charlie gestured to the booth.

In just two moves he had wiped away her bravado, her stripper's veneer, and the girl who obidiently took a seat in the booth with them was a vastly different creature to the one who had been standing before Crews with her legs parted provocatively just two minutes beforehand.

_Deftly done_, thought Reese, she was full of admiration for her partner despite herself. Sometimes it paid to let him do the talking. Now that the stripper had truly been stripped, they might actually get some cooperation.

Within minutes, Katie the lapdancer was in tears. Megan had been her friend and although she denied that either of them had slept with men for money, the risks associated with their line of work seemed to be hitting home. She was just a middle class girl from a good home paying her way through college by dancing part time. Waiting tables was beginning to seem like the better option all of a sudden. By the time she shrugged off Crews' jacket and left their booth, all her sass had gone and she would be of no use to Benji tonight. Reese and Crews waited for the next dancer to come out for questioning.

"Nice work.", Dani complimented him as he scribbled something in his notebook. She needed to pretend that everything was fine between them and anyway, she had been genuinely impressed at the way he had disarmed the formidable Candi Cole. "Why did you bring her grandmother into it?"

"Nobody likes to think of their grandmother when they're doing something that they are ashamed of.", he replied simply. Crews knew this from personal experience.

"How did you know that she was ashamed of what she does here?"

"Oh, because of the stage name. Megan didn't use one on her business card but _Candi_ _Cole_ just sounds made up, like a centerfold or something. She was either very professional or seeking anonymity. I took a bet it was the latter."

"Huh.", Dani nodded at him. She was still hurt and mad at him but who was she kidding? She knew she wouldn't be for long. She knew she was damaged goods and if there was one thing she couldn't resist, it was a guy who hurt her. Same impulse as the bottle, a form of self harm. Plus, she thought, he was unique and very smart and kind of pretty. _Dani Reese__, you are a monumental fuck-up_, she told herself.

"And she's lying - about the prostitution I mean. She's a student and she hasn't been dancing long enough to afford those breast implants on tips alone.", he said, matter-of-fact.

"How do you know they are implants? Crews, were you checking her out?" Dani accused him, arching her brow.

She didn't sound pissed, she was teasing him. He sensed that the ice between them might be thawing and he thanked the universe.

"I was not checking her out, Reese. I'm a Detective, I was..._detecting._", he exclaimed innocently.

For a second there he had her smiling and it made him feel like a million dollars to be back in that place again. The realization that he could damage things so easily reminded him why they were dancing around the fact that something big but very fragile had happened, _was happening_, between them in the first place. For that short period today when he worried that she would never speak to him again, he had been as afraid as he had been when Nevikov had taken her. That he might have shaken her trust in him made him feel ill. If he had been in any doubt before, he now knew that she was thinking about him in _that_ way, perhaps just as much as he thought of her. He was now assured that there was a new unwritten rule in the invisible book: absolutely no fooling around with other women. That was okay; he only wanted to fool around with Dani anyway, Melody had been an accident. Did all this mean that they were kind of 'together'? Or did her finding out about Melody mean they weren't 'together' any longer? Shit; had she considered them_ '_together' all this time without him even knowing it? He couldn't believe he had been so stupid as to jeopardize it, even if sitting by her side making her laugh was as close to loving her as he would ever be allowed.

He was lost, staring at her, going through all of this in his mind and pondering the definition of 'together' when the sound system erupted into life and the lights changed from blue to red to orange and back. Rehearsals were starting, which may have explained why they were still waiting for their next interviewee. He watched the different colored lights flash onto her face from different angles casting weird shadows, making her look like a different woman every time. Each one of them was devastatingly beautiful.

Dani was acutely aware of his eyes on her and the totally _gone_ expression on his face. She decided to indulge him for a while, enjoying his attention. Whoever the slut in Bobby's garage had been, she wasn't here now and even if she was, Dani wasn't sure that he would even have noticed. Three semi-clad dancers had stalked onto the stage just in front of them. Crews didn't even look up, arrested as he was by Dani's lips turning blue, then orange, then green like some psychedelic wet dream.

"So, what are they?", she asked him in a low voice, almost flirtatiously.

"What are what?", his eyes flicked up to hers, delighted that he could no longer hear any frost in her tone.

"The things you've done that you're ashamed of. The ones you wouldn't want your grandmother hearing about?", Dani smirked.

The girls on stage began to take their clothes off, gyrating provocatively and stepping up to the very edge of the stage close to Reese and Crews. Dani looked at them as if she was tired already of their spectacle, no amount of grinding could shock her. _Please_. Charlie kept his eyes fixed on his partner's face and did not flinch for one second. He knew they were there of course, but he was focused on Dani and proving a point to her, making amends. _If you were mine, I wouldn't even look at another woman, I swear it_, he willed his eyes to say.

Something about the intent way he was looking at her made her shiver involuntarily. She saw his eyes twinkle mischief then dull with bloodshed as he considered his response.

"There are too many to mention.", his lips actually said.

"Don't be evasive, Crews.", she chided. "Can it be that bad?"

For a second his face was deadly serious, as he actually thought about telling her some very dark things indeed.

"If it makes you feel any better, I could never tell my grandma either.", he chose to joke about it.

Reese raised her eyebrows in mock indignation. "Is that how you see me? In the same category as your grandma?"

"You have the same temperament as my grandma did," he laughed, "but in other regards...most definitely not."

And then he couldn't help it, the world as good as stopped and he fought against the lump forming in his throat. Thinking about the category he _would_ put her in. One all of her own. God, he loved her. _This is inappropriate_, he thought, he didn't want to do this here and now in a dingy club at a sticky table. But he couldn't stop looking at her.

Dani had been eye-fucked a thousand times but this was something else. She couldn't bear to hold his gaze. He was so intense it made her feel uncomfortable. She blushed and thanked her lucky stars that it was dark in there. There were topless women show kissing on stage and he was acting oblivious. Had he moved closer? It felt like he had moved closer. Had someone turned off the air con? Jesus, she couldn't take it. She bowed her head to break contact with his eyes but he wouldn't let her, he dipped his head too in hot pursuit, looking right at her, seeing right through all her defensive bullshit.

She had no place to run to this time. She dug her fingernails into her thigh underneath the table top. _What if I just stop running now?_ _For once?_ She looked back at him. It was too dark to see exactly but it looked like his crazy blue irises had vanished, he was all dilated pupil, as if he had taken something dangerously interesting. For a few lingering seconds she joined him in his trance.

_I could kiss you now. And then what?_, they both thought in silent unison.

"What's up Detectives?", a bawdy bottle-blonde stood before them, thankfully wearing more clothes than the last witness.

Crews and Reese sprang apart as if they had been scalded, cleared their throats and looked the dancer up and down.

_All in a day's work_, Charlie said to himself.


End file.
